The orthography of Persian books and its relation to read-aloud skill of 1st to 3rd grade primary school students

The aim of this research was to determine the relationship between orthography of Persian textbooks and primary school students’ read-aloud skill. The study population consisted of the 1st to 3rd grade primary school students in Tehran in 2015-2016 academic year. In this research, four schools (two girls’ schools and two boys’ schools) were randomly selected from district nine. In each school, a read-aloud test was held in the first, second and third grades. Overall, in the four schools, 12 classes participated in the study and the sample amounted to 399 students. The research tool was the standard read-aloud test of Koromi Nouri (2009). When testing, the tester gave the reading text to the participants, measured the time with a stopwatch and registered the number of read-aloud errors. The error type was identified according to the diagnostic test of Shirazi et al. (2005). The data analysis showed that in Naskh and Tahriri orthographies, there was a difference between read-aloud scores of the primary school students. Students’ performed better in Naskh orthography. The results showed that students’ read-aloud skill in Naskh orthography was stable from first to third grades. Thus, Naskh is the unmarked orthography and is appropriate for teaching. In addition, the comparison of the results showed that read-aloud speed and accuracy was always better in Naskh orthography. Therefore, it was concluded that Naskh orthography is the most appropriate orthography for reading in the first to third grade primary school books.
 
Extended Abstract:
Reading is the ability of decoding written symbols to speech sounds (Gough, 1972). The first system in word decoding is vision analysis system that has two main responsibilities: at first it must recognize what the written letter is and second, where the letter is in a word. Vision analysis process does the analysis in three levels: orthography characteristic level, letter level, word letter. In the orthography characteristic analysis, it is important that in a word like “سرخ” teeth are in the horizontal line or the dot is above of the last letter. In the letter level the reader recognizes that three letters with special  characteristic are arranged one after the other. In addition, in the letter level, the reader must know that where the letter is in the word. In the word level, the reader would find out the word consists of three letters and each letter is in the certain place of the word (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981).
        Two kinds of orthography (Naskh & Tahriri) were used in the Persian books of the first to third grade students which differed in the function of vision analysis system. Naskh is a kind of orthography that its main characteristic is exact geometrical symmetry consideration, having equability and clarity, and easiness for reading and writing learning. In four-sixth of this orthography, ballpoint motion is plane and in two-sixth of it, ballpoint motion is circular. Tahriri is a kind of orthography that is educed from Nastalligh orthography. In five-sixth of this orthography ballpoint motion is circular and in one-sixth of it, ballpoint motion is plane.
The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between orthography of Persian textbooks (Naskh & Tahriri) and students҆ reading skill in the first to third grade students. The sample consisted of the first to third grade students in Tehran in 94-95 academic year. In this research four schools (two girls’ schools and two boys’ schools) were randomly selected in region nine. In each school a reading test was held in the first, second and third grades. Totally 12 class of the four schools participated and the whole number of students were 399. The research tool was the reading standard test of Koromi Nouri (1388). When testing, tester gave a reading text to participants, measured the time by stopwatch and registered the number of reading errors. The error type was identified according to the diagnostic test of Shirrazi and Nillipour (1384).
The data analysis shows the difference between reading skill of the first to third grade students in Naskh and Tahriri orthography is meaningful (sig<0.05) and it is better in Naskh orthography. The results show students҆ reading skill in Naskh orthography is in a stable situation from first till third grade, so it is unmarked and appropriate for teaching. In addition the comparison of results shows students’ reading speed and accuracy is better in Naskh orthography continually, so appropriate orthography for reading in the first to third grade books is Naskh orthography.